True Stories 3: 50s—Titanic & The Glenn Miller Story

From the iconic Citizen Kane that we looked at last week, we move to the most common subjects of true stories that continued to be used through the 50s—historical events and famous people, both of which still inspire the bulk of true stories that are made today.

Titanic [1954] was written by Charles Brackett, Walter Reisch and Richard L. Breen. As the film was made before the famous book A Night to Remember [1955] was published—a book that was based on the author’s interviews with survivors of the tragedy—Brackett and his writers took their info from court transcripts and archival newspaper interviews with survivors. As such, the film is a great example of using court records and facts from newspaper stories as the basis for turning your film into a dramatic story. And as a screenwriter, you don’t have to stick to real names, and you can invent composite characters to increase the dramatic effect.

Films of great disasters have always appealed to audiences and, looking at the current film climate, always will! Historical events are good fodder for film and be sure to realize they don’t always have to be disasters. One of the ways to think of the possibilities is to read about court cases that are in the news. Court documents are in the public domain, so anything you dramatize based on those documents is pretty much fair game. In Titanic the center of the film is a troubled marriage that tries to sort itself out against the backdrop of this tragedy.

The Glenn Miller Story [1955] is a great example of a film made about a famous person, in this case the band leader Glenn Miller. While I love this film, it’s built on a pretty thin premise—a young trombonist who is trying to develop a sound that will allow him to form a band. We see him go from pawning his instrument to succeeding with forming a successful band. But like all true stories about real people, this one has another element—and that’s the love story between Glenn and his wife. And, as you might guess, a fair amount of that love story is fabricated for the film. In fact, the film plays fast and loose with a number of historical details—and all to make the film more compelling, more dramatic, more heart-wrenching.

The question for you as a writer is where do you draw the line? How much can you change and still be content that you’ve told the true story you set out to tell? Do remember that you’re not writing a documentary, you’re writing a movie—you’re telling a story for the enjoyment of an audience. I’m not saying make the person who really lived a serial killer if he wasn’t, but I am saying don’t beat yourself up for changing a few facts and moments in a life to up the drama.

Tough decisions. But that’s why they pay you the big bucks… or, perhaps, will one day pay you the big bucks if you can get a good script seen out there in the world!

Next week it’s on to 1962’s iconic Lawrence of Arabia.

Copyright © Diane Lake

19Jun22

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